Family Demands Accountability After Off-Duty ICE Agent Kills Keith Porter in Los Angeles
Written by b87fm on 01/08/2026
Family members and community advocates in Los Angeles are calling for criminal charges and full transparency following the fatal shooting of 43-year-old Keith Porter by an off-duty ICE agent in Northridge on New Year’s Eve, according to ABC7.
Porter’s relatives gathered at a press conference Monday, urging authorities to hold the agent accountable as investigators reconstruct the final moments leading up to the deadly encounter.
“From day one that he was born, I knew that he was my joy,” Porter’s mother, Franceola Armstrong, said tearfully during the event.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the off-duty ICE agent claimed he heard gunshots outside his apartment that appeared to be moving closer. DHS says the agent retrieved his ICE-authorized firearm, went downstairs to investigate, identified himself as law enforcement, and encountered Porter.
Community members in Northridge came together for a vigil on Sunday night in honor of a man shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve.
Advocates say that before Keith Porter was shot and killed, he fired gunshots as part of a New Year’s Eve celebration. Read… pic.twitter.com/qdLRKR2asI
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) January 5, 2026
Federal officials allege Porter pointed a rifle at the agent, ignored commands to drop the weapon, and fired three shots before the agent returned fire, killing him. The agent was not injured.
Porter’s family strongly disputes that account. They say Porter was firing celebratory gunshots for New Year’s Eve and question why the agent chose to leave a secure location instead of calling LAPD and allowing on-duty officers to respond.
Attorney Jamal Tooson, who represents the family, said neighbors interviewed by his team did not hear the agent identify himself as law enforcement. He also challenged whether an off-duty ICE agent was trained or authorized to respond in such a manner.
“What should have been an arrest and possible citation has turned into a death sentence,” Tooson told the Los Angeles Times. “This potentially amounts to a cold-blooded murder by an ICE agent who was not equipped to handle the situation.”
Tooson described the agent’s decision to leave his apartment armed as “premeditated and calculated,” arguing that the incident should have been handled exclusively by local police.
The killing comes amid growing national scrutiny of ICE operations and use-of-force incidents. Recent fatal shootings involving ICE agents — including the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez in Chicago, referenced this week by Mayor Brandon Johnson — have intensified public concern over how quickly encounters with federal immigration agents can escalate into deadly violence.
Porter’s cousin, Jsane’ Tyler, expressed the family’s anger and grief in blunt terms.
“If I could say anything to the ICE agent, it’s that you’re a murderer,” Tyler told ABC7. “You stole my cousin from me. You stole their father from them. You stole a Black man off the planet that God ordained to live and thrive. You stole a human life, and you need to pay for it.”
As investigations continue, Porter’s family says justice will only come with full accountability — not just for this case, but for what they see as a broader pattern of unchecked power and deadly force involving ICE agents across the country.
